Benefits of bike and pedestrian infrastructure include environmentally sustainable transportation, livability, and improvements in economic development and public health. While these outcomes are well documented, it is also known that both transportation and environmental amenities are typically unevenly distributed in the urban context. Studies show that those who are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged (for example, low income people and people of color) are also those who disproportionately experience transportation disadvantages.

A newly published study led by Jenny Liu of Portland State University establishes several approaches to evaluating the transportation accessibility, economic and social equity impacts of Portland’s 2035 “City Greenways” network. Through this work she developed and defined several “bicycle accessibility measures” (BAMS) that can be used to prioritize future improvements to any urban greenway network.

The three sets of BAMs incorporate different components of a comprehensive bicycle network:

Characterizing bicycle accessibility on a network level, instead of simply counting miles of trails/lanes, is important to improve the experience of the traveling public. Evaluation should include not only built environment characteristics, but also the ability for users to access important destinations. Moreover, social equity outcomes are a crucial component of this type of bicycle network evaluation.

Strategic, multimodal investments like this can reduce transportation costs and advance economic growth. Certain types of accessibility measures are better than others in understanding how urban greenway network infrastructure can contribute to economic outcomes.

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers, is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.